Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Bučar, Rudi
Label: Celinka
Released: 2017
Length: 36:36
Rating: 4/5
Ekola! After a good two years, Istrian folk rock attaché Rudi Bučar is back among us with his fifth full-length studio record. Honestly, this album, recorded once again with Rudi’s backing band Istrabend as well as with a fresh, carefully handpicked crew of guest musicians, feels more like a neat career cross-section of Rudi Bučar
Once again Rudi has given part of the running time on the new album to reworking some traditional folk songs from the Istrian region, and he also decided to rework some versions of originals from his past albums in his own manner, breathing the vibe of the present day into them.
Rudi makes sure this album is easy to get into, too. His »šentiment« creeps under your skin fast again, and that’s where Bučar stays the eternal smooth »charmer and seducer«. In fact, half of the album is made up of reworked versions of originals. The song Samo ti, which took Bučar to first place at the Slovenska popevka in 2009, gets a new vocal performance from Rudi and reaches entirely new shades of sensual vocal expression. The famous »Mr. Everywhere« Hamo is back too, coming to meet Rudi in a duet on the song »…«. It’s an acoustic blues that doesn’t hold back on heartfelt vocal expression, while also making it clear that Rudi’s vocal color, next to Hamo’s well-known punch, is simply the inferior one (the junior partner in the pairing).
Rudi’s love of choir music is not lacking this time either. That’s how the album begins and ends. The difference is that for the opener Rudi picked the traditional Istrian De lete in pu, and for the closing act his own Sem znala jes. He performed both with the support of the octet Aljaž. Both are purely vocal choir songs, then. The album has one more reworking of a traditional Istrian song, Kemu si dala rožice, which Rudi performs with the women’s choir Vrhovke and the men’s Aljaž, while also adding a more tangible stamp of rearrangement, especially noticeable when a motif played on pedal steel guitar »sneaks« into the middle-eight passage.
Istrabend really cut loose for the first time in the cheeky, speedy folk whirl meaningfully titled I(n)štrumentalna, and the playfulness doesn’t let up afterwards, kept alive by Marija Ištriana, where Rudi »wildly colored« his vocal with the whole women’s choir of Vrhovke. The verses in this song flirt most intensely with the authentic Istrian dialect.
The first flirtation of Rudi’s folk ethos with pop and rock comes in the new versions of the originals Greva naprej, Tisti ljudje and Samo ti, which make up the middle of the album »Šentiment«. In its new arrangement, the new version of Samo ti touches the listener’s heart especially intensely and movingly, since it boasts an outstanding showcase of Rudi’s vocal sensuality. The album also holds a special place for the superb vocal duet of Rudi and Lea Sirk in the ballad Ostala bova tu. It’s an exceptionally successful duet, where yearning fragility and almost vulnerable girlishness glisten authentically through sincerely revived emotions. Also special is the mischievous »Skokica«, or in Rudi’s case Šaltinka, where the piano of jazz master Marko Črnčec gives the cabaret folk bustle a special touch. Rudi’s vocal interpretation once again reigns full-bloodedly in this song too, in orthodox use of the Istrian dialect.
The album was recorded in three different locations, which means Rudi approached this record with great dedication and didn’t leave things to chance. Just the choice of the Ražman homestead in Gračišče speaks for the desire to authentically capture the energy and vibe a given song can reach, especially when it’s played live in its, if not birthplace, then at least original environment.
Rudi Bučar and his crew of seasoned musicians have once again done their job with great distinction. Sure, you might have expected an album with more new songs, but still. The tracks brim with feeling and arrangement perfectionism in the performance. They carry life, fire, dynamics. They ripple with highly vibrant energy, and in what was Rudi’s basic focal point, that is the target focus in creating this record! Achieving an authentic imprint of the emotions and passion that weigh this album down so effectively. It’s actually interesting how, as far as painting emotions goes, the songs in their new versions respond quite differently compared to the originals. That is also the main and basic appeal of the album »Šentiment«.
Lineup
Rudi Bučar – vocals, percussion, guitar (tracks 2 to 10)
Janez Dovč – accordion, keyboards, bells, backing vocals (2 – 6 and 8)
Goran Krmac – tuba, stomp box, keyboards, backing vocals (2 – 6 and 8)
Robert Pikl – guitar, charango, bouzouki, lap steel, banjo, backing vocals (2 – 5, 8, 9)
Oktet Aljaž – choir vocals on tracks 1, 8 and 11
Vrhovke – choir vocals on tracks 3 and 8
Jure Rozman – drums, percussion on tracks 4 and 6
Lea Sirk – flute, vocals on tracks 4 and 9
Marko Črnčec – piano on track 7
Goran Farkaš – sopele on track 3
Boštjan Gombač – tin whistle on track 2
Tomi Purič – drums on track 3
Nino Mureškič – percussion on track 2
Krkuča konekšn – backing vocals on track 3
Production
Gaber Radojevič
